Thursday, 4 December 2014

IBPS PO III Interview Experience: Prashant Kumar

As the interviews are near for PO-IV I would like to share my last year's Interview Experience with the aspirants. It might be useful for them.

I am Prashant Kumar IBPS PO-III Batch had Interview Score 72/100 currently working in Indian Overseas Bank as a PO

Interview Date: 07 Jan 2014
Venue: Agra,UP
Time: 1:30 PM

1. Some Unnecessary Information

I reached the venue 1 hour before the scheduled time to avoid any problem. The entry started around 12:30 PM. I wore a formal shirt, formal pant and a blazer but no tie because the tie was not mathcing my attire...(but I think I should have wore one because most of the interviewees were dressed in suit and tie) but many were in Jeans,Shirt and simple sweater too. When I entered the place there I saw printouts on the walls on which instructions on how to arrange the docs were provided. We all were then asked to wait in one hall before doc verification. In the hall there was another list in which roll no. wise we were segregated in various panels. I was in panel 4.

In the waiting hall, the atmosphere was intense, many were discussing gk and current affairs among them, many were lost in the day's newspaper, and like the people outside written exam hall, many were speculating the cutoff and exact firgure how many have been selected and what written score is minimum required to finally get in..(God save me from such geniuses). Anyways, I just did nothing and sat there quietly waiting for my turn.

2. Document Verification

After waiting for around 50-55 minutes my turn for document verification came. There were 2 people one checked the xerox and the other checked my originals. As one can clearly observe, they were just checking my Grad date as mentioned on my degree, my marks percentage (they calculated themselves), just took a vague look at my character certificate, besides that they checked Caste certificate (especially applicable and validity date)...they were a bit strictier with OBC people and any NOC from employer if applicable. They were very serious with the Caste Certificate and they even rejected more than half of the people appearing from OBC category regarding their certificate. I actually dont know what was the issue because I belong to General Category and not OBC. And there was no chance given for undertaking etc, if you dont have some docs, you have to get them within interview hrs (that were 1:30-4:45) that's all.

After my documents were verified, I was asked to wait for my turn to go into the interview room.

3. Interview

I didnt have to wait for long as I was the fourth person in the queue so my turn came early. I then entered a room where there was a big table in front around which four old-age (nearly 50-55 yrs of age) persons were sitting. There was one small chair kept in front of them on which the mujrim(Candidate) was going to sit. From my left there was one smiling sardar, one mixed expression person,one fierce looking man in the middle and then extremely quite person on the right. The extreme right person didnt even answer my Good Morning too,

They asked my name, and started looking at my documents Xerox...which were collected during my verification stage.They allowed me to sit meanwhile. Now there was extreme silence in the room for around 8 minutes which made me a bit confused as nobody was asking me anything nor were discussing among themselves...they were just looking at my graduation, X, XII marksheets.

II. "From which college you have done your BTech?"
A. I told themII. "Ok so you have taken any loan for your studies?"

A. I told them as I have taken it from one.

And he continued to ask me about my family background my educational background...class X XII, my hobbies but he didnt ask me the obvious questions like "Why banking after BTech,Tell us about yourself, What will you do after joining bank,etc (Ratta maarna bekaar ho gaya :) )
Now he passed on to III interviewer...meanwhile I was encouraging me by saying "good"and "Okay" to every answer I said.

III. "So Prashant, what have you prepared for today?"A. I got a bit nervous because I read many things but at that time choosing the right thing was important because I knew the interview was going to go in that direction only, after thinking for 30 seconds I said "Rural banking"

III. <Giving a tensed look> "Rural Banking, hah, what in rural banking? How will govt provide Rural Banking, what will be the benefit?"A. I tried to give the mugged up bookish answer..."Sir Financial Inclusion, No-Frills A/C and..."

III. He stopped me in the middle..."What is the benefit of No-Frills A/C? I think thats useless coz zero balance account has no profit for a bank? Any other concept in rural banking?A. As he stopped me in middle, I became a bit nervous and now I decided not to answer bookish but by common sense. "So I said Sir, leaving No-Frills A/C we have the concept of BCs, financing SHGs and...."

III. Again stopped me in the middle..."What is BC?"
A. Banking Correspondent

III. <He looked towards others and then turning to me> "What he does?"A. He opens A/C in villages, works on behalf of banks there.

III. "Who can be BC then?"
A. "Sir a person from village appointed by a bank. A BC can be an NGO too."

III. "Anyone from village? He could easily run by taking money from bank then how is he a reliable Banking Person in the village?"
A. "Sir...He is appointed by bank by taking adequate measures and...."(Totally Nervous)
Before I could say anything II interrupted and said, "the boy is also saying NGO na..."

III. "NGO? How could an NGO reach a distant village? It would be inconvenient and why will they go? I think that too is useless"
A.This time I became a bit angry as he was counter questioning my every answer,,,I said "Sir, It could be near to some village or it may go anywhere as they are Non-Profit Organizations dedicated to do a particular task only so it is not a different work for an NGO. Without stopping a bit I counted names of some NGOs who were doing some or the other work from far flung areas.."

I and II nodded...IV did nothing

III. <No change in expression> "You mentioned SHG...what's that?"A. Self Help Group. and I described their work a bit.
III. Who would you finance in SHG? any one from the group?A. No...& i described this "No,"
III.Who controls these rural provisions in banking?A. Sir, NABARD
III, Full form?A. ToldIII. Ok, You read today's newspaper?A. Yes.
III. Anything special today?A. <I didnt find anything politically special that day and sports news was irrelevant I thought>...However I narrated some news.
III. Anything related to Economics?
A. Told
III. Bankers are going to do something if one issue is not resolved...what is this issue and what are they going to do?
A. <I just recollected that a week before my cousins were talking about wage revision in banks, so I shot in the dark and said> "Sir, they are awaiting their wage revision"
III. <Interrupted> Since when it is due?
A. <I didnt know this> said,.."Sir, not confirm...June 2013?

Now the Sardar Sir Spoke "No, Its Nov 2012" "OK". I said.

III. "What are they going to do then?"A, "Sir strike for 2 days"

III. "When?"A, Told the dates...(thanks to my lovely banker cousins).

III. "What do you feel about strikes, are they good?"
A. Sir on whose perspective, as a PO or as a customer?

III. "Tell your general opinion"A, "Sir its good."

III. "Oh, why?"A, "Sir if Govt doesnt listen we have to do something to explain our problems to them"

Sardarji smiled and said "Haa bhai ....Sarkaar sunti nahi to karna padta hai..."
.
III. So If you become PO one day, you will take part in strike?A, "Definitely Sir",...II and I laughed a bit. <By that time my nervousness was totally gone so I was answering what was coming in my mind and not by judgement>
I, II and III. "Oh...nice then , I think we are done."
Me. "OK. Thanks Sir"

Now I came out of the room and felt much relaxed.

My Review of the interview: After giving the interview, I felt my interview was totally rubbish because I was interrupted every time, the interviewer (III) never looked satisfied and the questions were totally different from what I expected. Anyways after spending 2 months in negativity I was shocked to see that my marks were much higher than from many of my friends in the interview (72/100). So I came to the conclusion that besides mugged up answer we should intelligently mould the answers according to the situation but knowledge should be must...guesswork will ultimately lead to failure here.

Anyways, all of the above was my experience with IBPS and my review. It may not look an ideal interview or an ideal situation for many but that is what I experienced.

Thank you for reading and All the best for your respective interviews this year. Hope the interview goes on the expected lines only.

Hello prashant bro, firstly I would like to congratulate u and i want to ask u something that I am also from Gen category and i attempted 93 qs and qualified written but u might have known the cut off for this year was 82, so what do you think if i'll perform well in interview, do i have any chance for final selection... Plz reply

one confusion is going on my mind regarding my obccertificate, please clarify it plzzzz.... Notification- In case of candidates belonging to OBC category, certificateshould specifically contain a clause that the candidate does not belong to creamy layer section excluded from the benefits of reservation for Other Backward Classes in Civil post & services under Government of India. OBC caste certificate containing the Non-creamy layer clause should be valid as on the last date of online registration i.e. 11.08.2014 (issued within one year prior to the last date for online registration).Caste Name mentioned in certificate should tally letter by letter with Central Government list / notification.Problem- my old obc certificate is of date 30-may-2013 andi'hv my new certificate date as 29-11-2014(which is prepared on the basis of my old certificate) also contains the non-creamy layer clause and is in the prescribed format.

I got my OBC certificate in 28/08/2014.Dis s d 1st time dat i got my obc certificate.But in d notification,it ws mentioned dat "OBC caste certificate containing the Non-creamy layer clause should be valid as on the last date of online registration i.e. 11.08.2014 (issued within one year prior to the last date for online registration)"...What can i do...Any soln...Reply pls.......